NDC Oversees Historic Collapse in WASSCE Performance: 50% candidates can’t access university
The John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has overseen the worst WASSCE results Ghana has experienced in 12 years.
More than 50% of those who sat for the WASSCE cannot gain admission to enter tertiary.
In addition, the average 2025 WASSCE core subject pass rate was 57.8 per cent, the lowest since 2018 (52%). The highest in recent times still remains 70 per cent in 2023.
On Sunday, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the provisional WASSCE results for 2025, revealing a troubling increase in the outright failure rate (Grade F9) across all four core subjects.
The percentage of candidates who failed Core Mathematics (Grade F9) nearly quadrupled, rising from 6.10% in 2024 to an alarming 26.77% in 2025. Similarly, the failure rate for Social Studies almost tripled within a year, increasing from 9.55% in 2024 to 27.50% in 2025. This represents a staggering 188% increase in the F9 rate for Social Studies.
More disturbing results
Even core literacy and science subjects saw failure rates more than double.
For Integrated Science, the F9 rate climbed from 7.12% in 2024 to 16.05% in 2025, an increase of 8.93 percentage points.
In English Language, the percentage of candidates receiving an F9 more than doubled, moving from 5.88% in 2024 to 12.86% in 2025.
